Activities abound: marvel at the giant swathes of seaweed lazing about in piles on the sand, observe while the hardy Southern surfers navigate the waves in their foot-thick neoprene shells, or be quite tempted to ring the shark bell and send them fleeing back to shore.
While the weather is summery and the days longer than the sunny-day queue for ice cream at Rob Roy, you should get out of the ghetto to St. Clair’s salt water pool.
The pool was built at the beach’s southern end in the 1880s, and was restored to its current glory (complete with café, serving Allpress coffee) in 2001.
Run by the Dunedin City Council, this seaside swimming pool is like Moana Pool’s hip and cool surfy cousin. While the air at Moana is practically viscous and seething with chlorine steam, the St. Clair pool is, by contrast, windswept, sun-struck and salty in both senses of the word.
Owing to the limited season that residents here call “summer” (and most of us call warmish), the saltwater pool is only open between 1 October and 31 March – even though the water itself is heated to a toasty 28°C.
With six lanes, a few pool toys and a true “family” atmosphere, don’t expect hydroslides or high excitement; but lap up the laps and the opportunity to bask in some salty sunny goodness.
Like at its more famous Bondi beach counterpart, the waves of the Pacific occasionally crash over into the pool, contributing to some legitimate sand action on the pool floor, and a sense of maritime adventure. Enjoy.
Get there: catch the Normanby to St. Clair bus from outside Everyday Gourmet on George St (or various stops further along George St.): $3.40 one way.
Do: take along your community services card to nab the $3.10 concession, and get there before it shuts for winter hibernation.
Don’t: forget to sunscreen up.
Eat: at the pool’s café, or one along the Esplanade.